Kronos Rising
by Araceil
Summary: Found in the Titan's Forest, a newborn child is given to the Church. Heralded a demon for his strange powers he became a Saint upon burning the hand of a Monster. He fights. And finally, those who abandoned him come at last. "You ask me to abandon these people to save you?" - "You are the Chosen One! You must!"
1. Chapter 1

**KRONOS RISING**

_**000**_

_Found in the Titan's Forest, a newborn child is given to the Church. Heralded a demon for his strange powers he became a Saint upon burning the hand of a Monster. He fights. And finally, those who abandoned him come at last. "You ask me to abandon these people to save you?" - "You are the Chosen One! You must!"_

_**000**_

I do not own Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan), nor do I own Harry Potter. I do own this story and all non-canon conceptry within. Please **Ask** if you wish to make use of it in your own work.

_**000**_

**Chapter One**

His first memory is of the Church.

Of having his head dunked in Holy water, cruel fingers hooked into his hair, holding him under as the Pastor recites the scriptures for purification, exorcism, and strength from the Holy Trinity. No matter how hard he thrashes, they do not let him up for air, even as he panics and tries to scream.

He is five.

And the Church believe that he is a demon.

This is not the first '_Purification_' he has suffered through, but it is the roughest, and it causes the Brother who was holding him in the water to yank back with a howl of pain. His hands are shiny red raw, and blistered. As he pulls his head out from under the water, he coughs and sobs as he huddles, shivering wet, on the dais of the Holy Font. He is staring up at the Pastor who is looking down his nose at him, back lit from the stain glass windows of the Goddess Sina. His face is hard, and unforgiving, and as a child, he hiccups in terror and tries to shield himself as much as possible from whatever violence that would follow.

Instead, the Pastor quietly asks one of the Sisters to remove him, take him to bed, get him changed and some warm food into him. It is not his last Purification, but it is the last time they are so violent toward him.

He has no memory of his mother's face, nor the way she smells. He cannot recall a father who would lift him into the air, or even shout at him, or bring home food, or read the paper. He cannot remember these things because he has never experienced them. Of the Year 826, in the early Winter months, the Scout Legion returned from an expedition outside the protective embrace of the Goddess Maria, and returned with a three month old infant in arm. Reportedly abandoned in the middle of the Titan's Forest, he had been saved at the cost of two mens' lives, and returned to the Trinity's care. No one knew where he came from, just that he existed and he was not... like the others.

They named him Shigan, after the Shiganshina District within the Goddess Maria's breast. The first District he passed through within the Goddesses care. The Pastor thought it was poetic. Shi, as he had shortened his name to, was not quite as impressed, but kept his mouth shut all the same.

He could not say his life was bad. It was not good, by any stretch of the imagination, but it was not _bad_. He had a roof over his head, and while it wasn't plentiful enough to fill him, there was always food upon the table. He was not whipped, or beaten, nor even verbally abused. The Brothers and Sisters tended to avoid him, afraid, and wary of his differences. The Pastor was the only one who spoke with him often, and that was to lead Purification Rites, teach him about the Holy Trinity, try to turn him into as much of a mindless zealot as he himself.

Shi bore it all with stoic disgust as he grew. The fearful glances, the whispering, the outright ignoring of others, and the cold judgemental glares as fingers inched towards wooden clubs and sharp blades as he passed. Such was life within the embrace of the Goddess Rose, where the Upper Class sneered at all those '_beneath_' them.

Shi was alone.

Always alone. None of the children wished to play with him, not even those who believed in the Holy Trinity, and certainly not the Non-Believers. To both, he was either a Demon or a Freak, there was no middle ground.

And he could not blame them, as much as he wished to. Strange things happened around him, things he needed or wanted would float to him. When the Brothers who taught the other Orphans began to tell him off for things he hadn't done, often times their hair would change colour, or their clothes would vanish. As a youngster, he wished to help the Brothers, hoping to win their friendship, and accidentally made all the fruit and vegetables in their farming patch grow and triple in size, becoming ripe within moments. They panicked and burnt the whole patch down, salting the earth and Shi was given another Purification ritual – this time with fire, before the Pastor managed to prevent them from actually setting him on fire. Instead, his hands would now be forever scarred. It had it's benefits. He no longer felt pain on the palms of his hands for one. There was also the time he climbed to the rafters of the Church bell tower, a baby bird had fallen out of the nest hiding under the slates. He had just managed to put the little thing back in it's nest when the Pastor's voice startled him, and he lost his balance, tumbling head over heels off the roof with a distressed scream of horror.

But instead of hitting the ground, he floated, like a feather several feet from the cobblestones until he uncurled fearfully and landed, lightly as a bird, on his feet. That seemed to be the final straw for the Pastor, and the next day, a Doctor was brought in to examine Shi, he had bodyguards, scary men in the Army's uniform, but with the symbol of the Scout Legion.

Doctor Yaeger had been very nice, but demanded all kinds of body samples that had Shi flustered and uncomfortable and scared because they all had to be collected in front of the army people AND the doctor. Even his urine and faecal samples. Thankfully, the semen sample, Shi didn't even know what that was, would be collected later when he was a teenager and actually producing some, whatever it was. It was all very embarrassing and it looked like the Doctor would be coming back to do this every year, much to Shi's horror.

He was nine the first time he killed someone with his power.

He had been running an errand for Sister Yale, and a man had snatched him off the street and into an alley way, covering his mouth and nose with a cloth. When he woke up again, he was lying on a cold stone floor, there was a boy next to him with black hair and a grim expression, and they could hear two voices arguing over what to do with Shi. Whether or not to kill him and sell his organs to the science freaks, or see what kind of price he would fetch from the dirty perverts in the Inner Sanctum.

It was then that the other boy realised he was awake and eyed him with a sharp, assessing gaze. A whole conversation took place with their eyes, mostly boiling down to: '_Can you move?_', '_Yes._', '_Fight?_'... '_Yes._', '_Get ready then. And move fast._', '_Alright_'.

And that was all the warning either of them gave before suddenly the ropes were falling from around them both, the other boy moving unnaturally quickly before using the wall behind them as a springboard, he launched himself at the two men with a speed Shi had only seen from the Military before – the throat of the one who grabbed him opening as the younger boy flew past. It became only too quickly why he'd asked if Shi could fight when he went crashing into the wall, apparently while he could move fast, he couldn't control his speed well enough to avoid hurting himself in tight spaces.

Which was where Shi came in. Launching himself onto the back of the second one who had been all in favour of selling his internal organs to the science freaks, he pressed his fingers into the man's mouth and imagined fire. The fire that ran under his skin that burned people who wished him harm when they touched his flesh. Burned to protect him when the Church tried to drown him. Fire that bent away from him when the Brothers tried to burn him at the stake. Fire... that he poured into his abductor's mouth.

The man screamed as his insides combusted with flame, smoke pouring from his mouth and nostrils as his stomach and lungs were immolated in hell fire. He thrashed and flailed, throwing Shi off his back and to the ground – but it didn't stop the burning. The fire. It kept consuming, burning and eating him from within.

The screaming must have drawn the attention of the Local Militia because the door was being beaten in next and Shi found himself being swept up and pressed against the far wall by the other boy, the two of them huddling away from the flaming man as he shrieked and crashed into things. His whole body ablaze now. It was a wonder he could even still move, surely his tendons and muscles must have been charcoalised by now!

The body finally hit the floor and stopped screaming just as the doors splintered and burst open. Shi squeaked as he found his head being pulled down by the other boy, the two of them pushing as far away from the people who came pouring in as possible. The green Unicorn of the Military Police emblazoned on their backs.

That was when the two parted ways, the surly looking boy who had sliced open the first man's throat so easily being bundled up and taken to a near-by doctor, his shoulder apparently dislocated from when he went crashing into the wall. Shi was taken back to the Church, while the Military explained what happened to the Pastor and the Brothers and Sisters, he hid himself away in the rafters again, knowing he had nothing to fear from the height any more.

He was deemed too dangerous to remain in the walls of the Goddess Rose, and thus he ended up being swept off to Maria, and the district that was his namesake. He was given a tiny attic room in a house belonging to the Pastor's wife, a woman who flinched at loud noises and rarely left the building. The rumours of what he'd done had reached even this far, and Shi found himself being avoided like the plague, which could have been worse. At least no one dared to pull a gun on him, no doubt scared of bursting into flame.

But still, he got bored easily, so he spent his days reading the small library the Pastor's wife had built up for herself as she was too scared of going out and dealing with people. He learned a lot about agriculture, engineering, biology, chemistry, he read about old songs and tried to invent his own rhythms to them – discovering that he actually had a pretty good voice in the process – and how to survive on nothing but foraging and rain water. There were even ancient forbidden books about the world outside the walls.

Those... those enchanted him the most.

Huge bodies of salt-water called Oceans, natural walls made of stone that stood reaching to the sky, three times bigger than the Holy Trinity called mountains – some of which even spewed fire and ash and hot molten rock the books called lava, or magma. Some of them were coated in white snow all year around and so the animals there had turned white as well so they could hide. Fluffy leopards that moved up and down the mountains in silence and easy, their tails longer than their bodies and their paws wider than their faces. Pure white foxes that dove head first into the snow to get at the mice that scurried around under the ice eating the frozen grass and staying out of the lethally cold wind. He read about tundras, about glaciers, about forests that stretched further than the eye could see, and about plains of nothing but sand. He wanted to see it. He wanted to see the ocean. He wanted to see the desert. He wanted to see mountains. Coral reef. Beaches. Waterfalls. Whirlpools. Volcanoes. Snow Leopards and Arctic Foxes. He wanted to see lions and tigers and lemmings and eagles and vultures and elephants.

And there was only one way of getting out beyond the wall.

_**000**_

"Fill in the form and return it to that desk there," the registrar demanded, eyeing him sceptically as he roughly handed over a clipboard. Shi took it without argument and stepped aside to allow another want-to-be trainee to collect their papers. He walked several paces away and sat on the grass, filling in the forms in neat pencil, it may have taken a little longer to write, but it would be faster to read and that would be something needed once he got onto the field. Speed was everything out there. You needed to be fast to survive, he knew that.

**NAME:** No last name, Shigan  
**AGE:** 12  
**DISTRICT:** Shiganshina, Maria  
**GOAL: **Scout Legion  
**I.D. NUMBER:** 0-28.669.998

He tried not to sweat as he went through and answered all the medical questions thereafter, his history was jotted down in brief bullet points, he even added his criminal record as an aside note detailing that he set an abductor on fire, from the inside. That done, he freed the paper and returned to the registry desk.

The man there snatched the paper from his fingers and gave a disbelieving sniff as he read the details. Shi tried not to let his anxiousness show. If he got caught then he was deep in the shit and would never be able to apply for the Corps again, he'd be stuck behind these thrice cursed walls for eternity. The man arched an eyebrow and then flipped the papers over, skim reading the information there in. Leaving Shi to sweat as the other potentials merely had their name and age glanced at before an approval stamp was pounded into their papers and they got ushered off to the Academy.

"Scout Legion, huh?" the man demanded, setting his papers to rights and lacing his fingers together to observe the so called 'Demon' in front of him. In his humble opinion, the kid looked like he could have done with a decent meal, but he was a father and had a bad habit of letting that effect his treatment of recruits. He was also younger than his papers said he was, that much he could tell. Ten, maybe eleven. Certainly not the twelve he was trying to claim to be.

"Yes sir," the boy answered quietly, but firmly. There was definitely a glint in those eyes.

"Why?" he demanded sharply. "And no bullshit patriotism unless that's your real reason. And I want a goddamn real reason," he demanded, jabbing a finger toward him.

Shi stared at him a moment, clearly mulling over what to say before, "I want to see the Outside," came from between those lips.

There was a moment of stunned silence before the recruiter snorted, and burst out laughing. Shi gritted his teeth, but remained still, no matter how much he wanted to deck the bastard, he was still only eleven, and untrained. This guy was in his thirties, trained, and had to have been damn good at what he did if he lived to see that ripe old age. The laughter tapered off into a bitter smirk.

"If you make it, you'll see plenty of 'Outside'. Enough for both of us, kid. Welcome to the Corps. Try not to get eaten," the man declared, stamping the papers and handing them back.

Happiness swelled like a balloon inside of him as he snatched them back, unable to stop the grin that stretched across his lips, "Yes sir! Thank you!" he exclaimed before running off to join the other recruits.

Captain Urja smirked apologetically at the kid's retreating back, he was going to get himself killed. But hey, at least he'd see the Outside that he wanted to so bad. He was going to die in it, but isn't that what he wanted? Scout Legion was a death sentence.

A thud in front of him distracted him from watching the boy run to his classmates.

**NAME:** Rivaille, Levi**  
AGE: **13**  
DISTRICT:** None**  
GOAL:** Scout Legion**  
I.D. NUMBER:** A+28.569.652

Another throw away for the Scouts, huh? And this one looked like a regular sour-puss. He stamped admittance to the boy's form and watched him snatch the papers away before stalking off. His eyebrow shot up, that was the walk of a predator alright. Damn. He might actually make it... You met recruits like that every once in a while, the ones who already had that edge, and you knew they would go far with a little luck and a lot of skill. They'd already faced the worst of humanity, now it was a matter of time as to whether or not they could handle the worst of the Titans.

Urja wished the kid luck. If he managed it, then fuck, he'd even look to convincing the kid to join the Military Police instead of the Scouts. It'd be a shame to waste that kind of talent beyond the wall.

_**000**_

There wasn't very many of them, Shi was surprised to note as they stood in ranks before their instructors. Not even a hundred of them. He guessed what Pastor's wife told him was true, no one saw the point in going in for the Military these days, they all believed the Wall would keep them safe. Why bother risking their lives for nothing? Save maybe a free ticket to the Inner Sanctum if some of the responses he was hearing from the Instructor's questions were true.

"You there!" the man barked at a boy in front of him.

"Sir," was the blunt reply, it wasn't a loud shout like the rest, but his voice easily carried, and it easily conveyed that he was entirely unimpressed with this whole situation.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!" the Instructor roared, as he had for every individual amidst their ranks. Shi would have gotten bored from this already if not for the varied responses and each nasty sneering retort the Instructor gave out. He almost reduced one girl in the front to crying when he said that her only future would be spreading her legs and hoping that something would make use of her before a Titan decided to eat her.

"Levi Rivaille, sir," was the response, just as blunt and unimpressed as before.

"AND WHAT DISTRICT ARE YOU FROM?!"

"I don't have one, sir."

"I CAN SEE WHY! NOT EVEN THE RATS WOULD WANT SHIT TO DO WITH YOU! RAVAILLE, WHAT ARE YOU HERE FOR?!"

"To kill Titans... Sir."

"THAT'S WHAT I LIKE TO HEAR! HOPEFULLY YOU'LL CHOKE ONE OF 'EM TO DEATH ON THE WAY DOWN!" the Instructor roared before marching further down the line, dismissing the unimpressed boy and moving on to the girl in front of Shi.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!" the Instructor roared again. Did his voice ever get tired? Shi was surprised it hadn't cracked yet.

"HANJI ZOE, SIR! ROMIPARK DISTRICT, MARIA WALL, SIR!" the girl exclaimed loudly, saluting.

"ZOE, WHAT ARE YOU HERE FOR?!"

"REVENGE ON TITANS FOR THE SAKE OF HUMANITY, SIR!" she screamed passionately. That one was going to be a handful, Shi decided. Either she was going to be a total flake and break in the field, or she was going to go postal and get a lot of people killed trying to save her ass when she went on a rampage.

He missed the Instructor's response and near enough jumped out of his skin when the man bellowed his, by now familiar, demand for introduction from him. Their teacher was a physically imposing man, not just because he was tall, but the look in his eyes. This guy had been on the front line. It was easy to see. His eyes were dark and bruised from lack of sleep, probably from night-terrors or memories of comrades being killed in front of him. On his back were by now, the familiar symbol of the Scout Legion – the Wings of Freedom.

"Shigan, sir. From Shiganshina District, Maria Wall, sir," he declared strongly, saluting.

"SO THE MIGHTY DEMON GRACES US WITH HIS PRESENCE!" Shi didn't even twitch, he had heard entirely too many demon taunts to let them effect him, even the ones shouted in his face. He tuned out the Instructor's vitriol and answered his question for why he was there with a flat "To see the Outside, sir." and then tuned out his verbal diarrhoea. The man sneered when there was no visible change to the boy's face and moved on down the line, clearly there would be no breaking or disillusioning that one – someone had already done the hard work for him.

They remained outside for the next hour with the Instructor bellowing at everyone, then lunch was served in the mess where they were told about their new schedules from then on. Morning wake up would be at 5am, bed check at 6am, early morning training until 8am, followed by breakfast, then came gruelling physical training, running, weights, anything and everything. Lunch. Followed by specialisation practice, things like handling specialist equipment like the 3 Dimensional Movement Gear and cable swords, hand to hand combat, marskmanship, followed by dinner and then personal time. Weekends were dedicated to learning the more theoretical side of things, lessons in tactics, strategy, signal, usage, repairing and maintaining specialist equipment, and Titan study. Everything that they knew and theorised about their enemy was condensed into that class. It happened once a month. Everything could be taught within one session, and every session there after students were expected to present a new theory about Titans or a new angle on an already known piece of information. They would be taken to the Scouts who would attempt to verify that information. If it was proven, or debunked, the students would be informed in the next lesson.

After lunch, they were shown to their cabins and ordered to sort out their personal affects and fight amongst themselves over who got what bunk after that, they would be returning to the mess for equipment assignment.

The rooms were simple, they slept in very large raised platforms, small ladders leading up with a single shelf each for personals and a box to store under their sections of the bed for clothing and extra blankets as it was cold enough to snow in this area. There was a woodburner at the back of the room that looked like it could kick out enough heat and a large bench table in the middle of the dorm.

There were fifty six boys all in all, only nineteen girls, and all of them roomed separately. The girls had one cabin to themselves as there were under twenty of them, the boys had to spread out across two due to their numbers. However, judging by the number of cabins there were... the corps could effectively house and train upwards of three hundred recruits of either gender at a time. Six hundred total.

Shi grunted as almost all of the boys in his cabin shouldered past him, all rushing in and starting to fight over who slept where, the top bunks seemed to be the most sought after. Grimacing, the boy rubbed his shoulder and watched them wrestle and fight like animals, shouting and yelping and insulting one another. All too soon he realised he wasn't alone and there was a familiar face at his elbow.

He jolted and stared, "It's... you," he realised, staring at the stoic boy he met three years ago, the one who slit that kidnapper's throat without hesitation or remorse. For a second, he didn't have the faintest idea of what to say, then, embarrassingly, "How's your shoulder?" he blurted and almost immediately flushed in embarrassment. His shoulder would have been fine! It had been three years and the Corps would have taken him to a Doctor in the Rose District if they weren't sure of who's son he was, all he had to do was stay quiet and they would have HAD to have gotten him seen to properly.

"Fine. You're staying with me," the boy declared firmly grabbing the somewhat smaller boy's shoulder and steering him around the wrestling barbarians to a pair of bottom rung beds, not right next to the woodburner, but rather, right in the middle of the room. "This spot will be the warmest," he declared bluntly. It was then that Shi realised, that voice, it was the same unimpressed voice from earlier when the Instructor was shouting at him.

That meant the boy's name was Levi Rivaille.

_**000**_

**Those of you expecting things to leap right into the HP plotline... WHERE'S THE FUN IN THAT?! XDDDDDD I've got an entire world to play with and oh dear god the 3dMG (Drools) Dowant.**

**Anyway, yes, I've put Harry in the same class as Levi and Hanji, I will be introducing Ocs and be exploring the Corp training a lot more closely than is covered in anime or manga – I'll be making this stuff up based around what seems to make the most sense. **

As of right now, the year is 837, eight years before the wall of Maria is breached, and twelve before the start of Eren and Misaka's career as Scout Legionnaires.

**No pairings have been decided yet. If ever.**


	2. Chapter 2

**KRONOS RISING**

_**000**_

_Found in the Titan's Forest, a newborn child is given to the Church. Heralded a demon for his strange powers he became a Saint upon burning the hand of a Monster. He fights. And finally, those who abandoned him come at last. "You ask me to abandon these people to save you?" - "You are the Chosen One! You must!"_

_**000**_

I do not own Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan), nor do I own Harry Potter. I do own this story and all non-canon conceptry within. Please **Ask** if you wish to make use of it in your own work.

_**000**_

**Chapter Two**

This was the last place Levi wanted to be.

He sneered down at the equipment thrust out toward him and gingerly took it in arm, trying not to allow his skin to come into contact with the filthy oily metal. Supposedly, this contraption of straps, buckles, and cords was to be his 3 Dimensional Movement Gear from now, to until he graduated. After that he would be assigned a new, custom made set to fit his ability and his body type. From then on, he was on his own and expected to maintain and repair his own gear, in his own time. If he made it that far.

He listened to the lecture with half an ear, keeping the majority of his attention on the other people in the room because he wouldn't trust them as far as he could throw them with the exception of a scant few. One of which stood at his side, listening with with rapt attention.

Disinterested eyes slid to the side to rest on the so called 'Demon'.

At eleven, he was tiny and thin, obviously having not been fed very well. He was pale skinned but not pasty so he hadn't been locked away at any rate. His hair was black with a red tint to it and roughly shorn at jaw length, stray escapee strands hanging down to his shoulders, wild didn't come close to the state that mop he called hair was in. It made his fingers itch to even it out. Large green eyes peered out from too long bangs, pale freckles peppering the youngster's face here and there. He wore the uniform well, even if he seemed to be visibly uncomfortable with how form fitting it was – it was easy to see exactly how scrawny he was with the loose yet fitted uniform. Patchy burn scars, old and soft, decorated the palms of his hands like the pads on a cat or a dog, it was likely that he no longer had any feeling in his skin there. His fingers showed evidence of clumsy knife handling, various knicks and cuts that either became infected or were too deep and had scarred. However, apart from his palms, the most prominent scar upon his person was the thin old lightning bolt on his forehead. It had to have been put there on purpose, it was too neatly shaped to be anything else. A brand perhaps? It certainly wasn't any organisation, gang, or group he was familiar with.

Levi remembered the kid only too well, he had that scar even then. It was hard to forget someone who made a man spontaneously combust from the inside. He had been as seemingly harmless as a fluffy duckling back then. He still looked harmless now, but less of a duckling... More of a cat. A kitten? No. Yes? Why did he care? Huffing a little at his own thoughts he turned his attention to their other classmates.

Hanji Zoe, female, thirteen, brown hair, brown eyes, glasses, slim athletic figure, she seemed to be intelligent, she carried herself as though she were used to being bent over something. Book, notebook, perhaps even sewing or farm work, she possessed some muscle toning that suggested an active life-style despite what her posture indicated. Her District was on the opposite side of Wall Maria to Shiganshina. Romipark. They were primarily farming and artisanry. So yes, very likely she could have done either.

Petra Ral, female, twelve, light brown hair, light brown eyes, petite, slender figure. Hard to say her intelligence level, she seemed very timid and unsure of herself, constantly looking for positive reinforcement with whatever she was doing. No manner of training and she had very little in the way of muscle tone, her fingers however were nimble and scarred, she was probably an artisan who focused on sewing, or metal crafting, perhaps even cooking. She was a Rose Wall resident. So it was almost guaranteed that as a girl she wouldn't not have been doing hard labour on farms, or mines.

Moses Brown, male, twelve, blond hair, blue eyes, well built for a boy of that age, he moved as though he had experience with brawling. Unsurprising given how he was from the same District as the Demon, Shiganshina from Maria Wall, it was a rough area for the youth as the area had a lot of commerce in way of fishing and agriculture, meaning that they were one of the more wealthy Maria Districts. It left the kids, who didn't have to start working until their teens, with a lot of free time and none of it supervised or controlled by an adult. They got unruly and violent in Shiganshina.

Ness, no last name, male, thirteen, black hair, grey eyes, he was lean and wiry. He seemed to be the dependable sort, perhaps a little soft hearted if the way he was clucking like a mother duck over Petral Ral was any indication.

Mike Zakarius Nile Dawk, Rico Brzenska, Ian Dietrich, Ilse Langner... Those were the only names worth knowing amidst their not very large number of recruits. To Levi's practised and scrutinising gaze, these were the only people who would graduate to make something of themselves, regardless of where that may be. Though Nile Dawk may not live that long if the looks of disgust he kept shooting over in his direction carried on.

They were dismissed for the evening and everyone began to file back to the dorms, the grim promise of '_Tomorrow, your personal little hell begins_' ringing in their ears. That didn't sound promising. Still, Levi frowned as he tugged the youngest of their troupe out of the way of Ian Dietrich, the larger boy fairly stomping and shoving anyone aside if they got between him and the bed closest to the heater. Bad tempered, Levi made a note of keeping both himself and the so called 'Demon' out of his way. They were the smallest of the whole troupe and that included petite little Petra who currently stood two or so inches taller than him.

Still, he watched as all the other boys in their dorm got ready for bed, putting their equipment away in boxes under their beds before getting changed into the plain, undyed off white tunic and trousers that acted as their nightclothes. Levi grimaced as he gingerly manoeuvred his equipment onto the table, he must have looked comical trying not to let the metal touch him but – ugh, it was greasy and who knew what had been touching it before now. He grimaced at the thought of the multitude of diseases that may have lingered behind.

Still. Being here, cleaning equipment that he would have given his left eye for back in the day, was better than being in prison or working the salt mines, which was what he faced with his criminal record being what it was, regardless of his age. He guessed he owed Commander Smith for hauling his ass out of that unpleasant end. His eyes slid sideways to the 'Demon' who was likewise sat on the bench dealing with his equipment, only he wasn't cleaning it. He was dismantling it.

"Are you an idiot?" he hissed furiously.

Green eyes looked over at him and narrowed, but he didn't bother responding, instead, returning his attention to the 3dMG in front of him and... untangling a wire? Levi stared as with deft movements the younger boy fished out the frayed remnants of metal wires from the gears, with it came a lot of oily black gunk which he unceremoniously wiped on a rag he kept in his pocket.

"We're expected to take care and maintain our own equipment," the boy began to explain quietly so as not to draw attention to them as the other boys all made friends and gushed over what they planned to do, half of them in bed, the other half climbing the frames and generally making a nuisance of themselves. Recruit Ness had even gone so far as to withdraw a pack of cards from somewhere and start playing Strip Poker with Recruits Dawk, Moses, and a trio of throw-aways. "Sometimes people don't bother in the last month because they know they're going to get tailored equipment. So they don't bother with their last bout of maintenance. The cords fray every time they're used because the metal is old and not well maintained."

Levi watched as, with careful yet fast movements he had only seen in some of the Old Boys' when handling firearms, the boy finished cleaning out the crap, and then put the whole thing back together with swift and efficient movements.

The brat had a point, he admitted grudgingly and began to work his 3dMG open, the inside was even worse than the outside and he couldn't stop the revulsion from showing on his face as he awkwardly began to clean it out using his bare hands. He would get some proper cleaning equipment tomorrow or so help him, he was going to use Dawk's fucking toothbrush.

All the while, the brat watched him with an assessing gaze before turning away and putting his equipment on the shelf above his bed and getting changed.

_**000**_

Shi didn't think his muscles could ache this much without being broken and unable to function. Every movement _hurt_. But like clockwork, every morning he had his bed covers whisked off him by his neighbour and his ankle grabbed – he would usually wake up properly upon his face being introduced to the floor after that little bastard Levi dragged him off the bed. If the boy weren't his friend, Shi would have introduced the thirteen year old's face to a burning fist for half the stunts he pulled. (Never mind that he was actually thankful for the early wake-up as that usually meant they were the first into the showers and got as much hot water as they wanted. Though Shi was perhaps a little too nice for his own good and only soaped and washed in hot before standing under the cold for to rinse off.)

After bathing, they would clean up their little section, and get out their 3dMG, doing a few last minute checks before pulling it on, ready for bed and uniform inspection. Recruit Timbers, a rather slovenly boy from the Trost District in Rose Wall, was always reprimanded for the food stains down his front, for his incorrectly folded bed – and even once for having knots in his 3dMG straps. Knots that could have very well caused a broken bone if all of his weight were applied onto them a certain way during aerial manoeuvres.

Just because they weren't even starting on aerial manoeuvres until the third week didn't mean that the Instructors weren't keen on stamping proper maintenance and attention to equipment details into them as hard as possible. If they got into good habits now, then they would be well served in the future once they had graduated, and would likely as not save their lives.

Absently, Shi had wondered his his pessimism was healthy for a boy his age, then the Instructor started screaming in his face and he stopped wondering and got back to work.

The first two weeks were nothing but day after day of gruelling physical conditioning, just to see if their recruits had the basic physical ability to take part. They'd already lost ten people, seven girls, three boys. One of the girls discovered that she had a lung condition during training that she'd never known she had until she collapsed with bloody foam around her mouth. It was a shame because Recruit Robin Hitches was one of the more passionate people, she wanted to be in the Stationary Guard, badly. The fact that her own body was against her even after she went against her parents wishes and signed up for it must have been like getting punched in the gut.

Today though, after two weeks of relentless musculature torture, they were _finally_ beginning their 3dMG training now that the worst of the worst had been weeded out.

He wasn't the only one grinning and fidgeting in excitement as they stood in ranks, the Instructor pacing in front of them, "FIRST THING, LET'S SEE IF YOU'RE GOOD FOR SOMETHING!" he announced loudly, his voiced easily carrying out over the recruits heads to the very back of the group. "TIE THE ROPES TO BOTH SIDES OF YOUR WAIST IN THE MOVEMENT GEAR BELT LOOPS! HANG DOWN AND MAINTAIN YOUR BALANCE WITH AS MINIMAL AMOUNT OF MOVEMENT AS POSSIBLE. THOSE WHO CANNOT MANAGE WILL NOT EVEN BE USEFUL ENOUGH ON THE FIELD TO BE CONSIDERED BAIT! YOU WILL BE SENT TO THE LANDFILL INSTEAD!" he roared, scowling monstrously at all those assembled before stepping back and gesturing behind him. "Get to swinging," he growled, "Line one, forward and up!" he barked.

Almost immediately the line in front of Shi moved forward, there was a row of ten harness rigs in front of them with an Assistant instructor at the crank on the back support. The harnesses looked like a tripod with a set of rappelling lines hanging down like a swing, their ends hooked together and gleaming greasy black in the morning sunlight. Levi was going to pitch a fit at the thought of that filthy stuff being anywhere near him. Already he could see the grimace of revulsion on his friend's face as the assistant instructor hooked him in and moved back to the crank.

Shi had noticed it a while ago but there was just no other word for Levi Rivaille – he was a Clean Freak.

Of the nth degree!

Not that he didn't have his reasons! They hadn't spoken about it at length, but Shi had asked why he was so fastidious about such little things as keeping his hands clean and bathing every day – they may not have had a water ration, but there was talk of it if their consumption rate didn't go down. The explanation of being one of the few who was forced to live in squalor during the Plague outbreak was enough to have Shi nod in acceptance and drop the subject. It was widely known that the utter filth of the slums and lower districts had been a glorious breeding ground for the plague that swept through the lower districts of Maria. Watching people you knew get sick and die, likely your family and all your friends, just from the filthy environment had probably left a lasting and deep impression on his brusque and often violent friend.

Shi couldn't help but grin at the undercurrent of amazement and awe as Levi was hoisted up and merely scowled, remaining motionless in his harness, arms folded. He even went so far as to test leg positions and stretch out just to see how it effected his equipment – only, his balance was almost second to none and there was almost no visible change to his position within the gear. The younger of the pair could already hear the supervising Instructor at the back of the group commenting on the potential military strength of his friend, telling his assistant to take special note of his training.

"Back straight, muscles loose," the sour faced youth advised as Shi by-passed him on the way to a free set.

He nodded and hooked himself in, giving the assistant instructor a wordless thumbs up to show he was ready. The odd sensation of his feet leaving the ground and the straps the wound around his body pulling against his weight was an odd one, even more so was the feeling of having his hips on a pivot. Still, it felt marginally like being on one of those childrens' swings at one of the few parks within Rose Wall, the chained seats.

He wobbled a bit as he continued to move upward, but as soon as he stopped ascending, it was fairly easy to keep his balance. If anything, the temptation to do as many spins and flips as possible was his main problem as he really wanted to cut lose and act like a child for once. He didn't, but the desire was there.

"Recruit Shigan, cease using your powers this instance!" one of the assistant instructors snarled at him.

The green eyed boy blinked, and stared down at the angry face below, eyebrow climbing his forehead. "I'm not," he refuted much to the man's visible disgust and disbelief.

"One of your powers includes floating. If I can't feel your weight then you must be using it! No _human_ is that steady their first time in the harness!" he shouted, drawing attention from the rest of the trainees and instructors.

Shi's hackles raised, "So you are suggesting then... that Recruit Rivaille is not human, sir?" he snapped, taking the assembled by surprise. "As for the weight issue, of course you can't feel my weight, you brainless cretin, because the crank you used to get me up here is counter weighted! You can't feel my weight on that crank because none of it is transferred onto it, fool!" he snapped before casually unhooking himself and landing lightly on the ground, watching with mild satisfaction as the counterweight dropped heavily to the ground and wrenched the crank handle from the man's grasp – hitting him in the testicles in the process.

"I don't cheat at training. That's purely counter productive and more than likely going to get myself, and my squad mates killed in future. Only idiots cut corners," he hissed darkly, glaring down at the older man. He then smirked, "Besides, I can't control my power unless I'm setting things on fire. Floating isn't something I've figured out how to do. Yet," he added lightly before turning away to allow Petra access to his tripod.

"Permission to work the assault course, sir?" he asked, looking to Instructor Shadis.

The man's hooded gaze bored into him for a moment before, "Granted. Don't die," he ordered gruffly and stepped aside to allow his second most prodigious trainee to go. The next three years were going to be interesting. If they could get the boy to master his abilities, floating, igniting flame, and who knew what else, he could be a veritable weapon of mass Titan destruction. But only if he avoided mandatory summons as a member of the MPO. Keith made a mental note to check the boy's paperwork, he could be wrong, but the brat did put in his intention to join the Scout Legionnaires, did he not?

He would have to look into taking the boy aside and seeing if they couldn't aid him in getting a handle on himself.

"Those of you who have proven yourselves adept at the 3dMG, move onto the Assault Course! There will be times when your gear runs out of gas, moving at speed without the use of the 3dMG will be the only thing saving your life at that point! Get to running!" he ordered, pointing those who showed aptitude after their Demon.

_**000**_

Hand to hand combat was easily Shi's worst subject. It didn't help that no one wanted to face him after he accidentally left knuckle shaped burns on Recruit Dawk's face – there had been a huge uproar until it was realised that said burning ability only worked without his conscious control when someone meant to do him severe harm. After that anyone who willingly agreed to fight him, knowing that as long as it was a spar they wouldn't get burnt, had to be treated for muscle pain, severe bruising, limb dislocation or broken bones.

Hand to hand combat was Shi's worst subject because he could not control the amount of force he put into it.

Ruthless didn't come close to his methods. He had absolutely no issue with landing a kick that could break through wooden planks into the groins of his fellow recruits. To say nothing of the broken kneecaps or dislocated shoulders he had caused.

Recruits Levi and Hanji were the only ones who consistently fought him and came out unscathed. Levi of which being the only one to regularly _win_ against him, employing even more ruthless and underhanded tactics. The two of them became a spectacle during their fights as it was often fast, brutal, and drawn out. Once the instructors had to call a stop to it before they all missed dinner, both he and Levi had paused, Levi's boot planted firmly into Shi's stomach, Shi's fingers inserted into the other boy's nose backwards like a hook even as he had shifted his weight, prepared to throw the older boy over his shoulder via said nose – he would have ripped it off before lifting him but Levi was good at this kind of brawling, he would have rolled with the movement, found a chance, bitten Shi's fingers off and then headbutted him or something. They were little more than a whirling dervish of fists, feet, and filthy tactics when they faced off against each other.

Horse riding took some convincing to get Levi anywhere near them. Which was surprising because after he got over his disgust of 'filthy animals' he became quite fond of the horse he was assigned to, a rather docile gelding who often nipped at a more unruly mare who kept biting Petra during their grooming session. Poor Petra had lost a teaspoon of flesh right from the tip of her shoulder blade thanks to that foul tempered animal. Which was odd as every other horse positively adored the timid girl.

Swordsmanship came next, the Instructors declared that they needed to have full mastery and control of their blades if they were to have a hope in hell of attacking from any angle and keeping themselves safe from Titans. Levi was the undisputed best of that class. Both Shi and Mike Zakarius came in a very close second, both tying for it on a different merit. Mike had the stretch, Shi had the speed, Levi had enough precision to make up for his lack of strength and a speed on par with Shi, making him head and shoulders above the two of them.

Their weeks passed in a blur of activity, of pain, exhaustion, of instructors screaming at them, or every known fact regarding Titans drilled into their heads, of 3dMG manoeuvres for group work, or smoke signals and flag signals, or Morse code, and sign language.

By the time six months rolled around, Hanji Zoe could take out Nile Dawk nine times out of ten during Hand to Hand. Petra's foul tempered horse no longer tried to throw her into trees and now actively attempted to protect her. Rico Brzenska could quote their complete library of long distance communication signs, be they smoke, flag, morse, or sign, by memory alone. Ian Dietrich was racing with the top of the class during the 3dMG manoeuvre exercises. Ness no longer got motion sickness while working the 3dMG and had long since stopped complaining about chafing when the straps dug into his flesh – he confessed once when they found out he actually slept in his gear that now it just felt weird to take it off. Ilse Langner was coming up with new Titan theories every day and presenting her research into the species during every lesson, her shelf in the dormitories crammed full of books and papers and wax tablets with theories to be tested later.

Adrian Timbers had lost all his puppy fat and now took the lead during all of their endurance tests – behind Mike Zarakrius. Kale Matteson proved to be the best in their class with a gun, capable to taking down targets from over three hundred metres away without the need for a scope. Ur Pirot stood next to both Shi, Levi, and Mike at the top of the swordsmanship classes, able to deal shockingly heavy blows with alarming precision for such a tiny woman. Nagi Skorne was a shadow, no one had encountered an individual so capable of getting in and out of places discreetly without drawing attention. She was like a shadow, silent and deadly, and she'd done _something_ with her 3dMG so that only a bare whisper of sound could be heard upon it's ignition.

Perle Ceirisier proved to be the geography and animal buff amidst their numbers, accurately able to spot and understand any and all trail signs. Her senses were top notch and she was already being considered for mandatory draft to the Scout Legionnaires – they could definitely use someone with her near enough preternatural sensory perception out in the field. Her horsemanship was also the best of the class so it was looking more and more likely that she would not be allowed to choose her final placement unless she managed to break the top ten line-up. Which did not look likely.

Kubo Caliga and Laurence Malfey were proving to be an almost ideal double team in almost all combat situations. Kubo managing distraction, support and defence while Laurence moved in for the final kill, proving to have greater physical strength and single minded focus on his goal, where as Kubo proved to be somewhat more flighty on top of being significantly superior in agility and speed. While Laurence could not be deterred in his final target while attacking, Kubo did not have that focus and would have run, thus putting himself in danger. Should Kubo act as target/bait/distraction, he could put his natural inclinations to avoid danger and preserving his life to some use by allowing his partner the opportunity of sneak attacks.

By the time their first year had rolled to a stop, that was all that was left of their original class. The previous number of seventy five recruits had dropped to only eighteen. Seven girls, eleven boys. And that was just their first year.

Keith Shakis leered down at his remaining recruits, the only ones tough enough to stick it out. "You have one week of leave, visit your families, friends, former districts. You have earned this reprieve. When you return... the real hard work begins. Dismissed."

_**000**_

**Introducing several OCs.**

**Adrian Timbers, Kubo Caliga, Nagi Skorne, Ur Pirot, Kale Matteson, Perle Ceirisier, and Laurence Malfey.**

_Now I had some reviews/tumblr PMs regarding some issues: I want to explain them here_.

**Harry's Age, Boy Who Lived, or not?**  
This has always been a thing for me in the fandom and in the canon. I have been there for the birth and growth of seven children now. One of which has just turned fifteen months, Harry's supposed age when Voldemort attacks. He is not an infant. He is a toddler. The boy is already up and walking, he babbled and talks occasionally and he is higher than my knee. He is not an infant or a baby. Which is how Harry is described repeatedly in the books when Voldemort attacks. And even in the films, the way he is carried, seen, and set down. That is a BABY. Not a toddler. That child is NOT fifteen months old.

Onto my second point in reference to this: Peter, Sirius, Prophesy, and Voldemort. Harry hadn't been born yet when Trelawney gave that foretelling. So Voldemort knew that there was going to be a baby born in July that would be his end. Potters go into hiding, baby is born, Voldemort gets RAWRMURDERISE. Sirius swaps with Peter knowing that he would be target number one. Peter rushes to Voldemort and gives location. Voldemort pays Potters a visit.

It would not take over a year for Sirius to go "Well shit, better pull a double bluff". He would do it immediately and then try and lead the Death Eaters on ye olde merry hell chasing him around the world. Peter would not have waited ANY length of time upon being made the Secret Keeper because Voldemort would be able to see in his head that he had been made Secret Keeper and then torture him for withholding that information, rip it out of him, and then execute him for being a traitor – if he weren't he would have said something immediately and been rewarded, ergo, still supporting the Potters.

So yeah, those are my arguments for why Harry/Shi **IS** the Boy Who Lived, and still only three months old.

**Levi vs. Rivaille, (website) says that it's his first name!**  
I know. Romanisation is always awkward, especially when the name being translated can be either German or English – note that in SnK, a lot of names are German. However, no last name is ever given to the character. Hence I decided to keep BOTH to satisfy both fan-camps of each name. Levi is shorter, thus working better as a first name, Rivaille sounds kickass and thus works pretty well as a last name. This is my reasoning, I am sticking to it. 8DDD

**Levi/Shigan yaoi?**  
Is not planned right now. I have no plans for ANY pairings in this currently. I may put passing mentions of Levi being interested in Hanji or Petra as it is a canonly suggested thing based on their behaviour, but aside from Shi teasing him mercilessly about it, there will be no romance. If further in the story I can see it drifting that way, sure, why not I'll leave some juicy hints to satisfy the fangirls/boys. But for the most part, I don't want pairings to play a part in this, I want to focus on the struggle to survive and maintain sanity in a world that seems to value neither.

**Are you planning on going through his training or are you going to do a time skip to when Eren and everyone else joins up?**  
I'll be going through his training in drips and dabs. I know that not everyone is going to be interested in how trainees are broken and rebuilt and taught what to do. Canonly we don't know much about how they're trained, so I'm leaving a lot up to interpretation and inputting only those things that seem to make the most sense to me – such as Horsemanship and Swordsmanship, that is never mentioned but to me it makes sense given the use of the animals and the blades in Scout and Stationary Guard deployments. Same with guns and rifling, they're stated to be useless against Titans, but they're still used.

So I'll be focusing on Shi's career, some of his training, some of his life in the Scout Legionnaires, and such, etc.

**Timeline?**  
Alrighty then, since it's going to confuse people, have a total and complete Timeline. Figuring out how it correlates to the HP timeline is next to impossible, I've done my best but... well... 8/ I hate maths.

824: Levi is born.  
826: Shi is found. (1980)

831: Shi's earliest memory, water exorcism. (Levi: 7yrs)

835: Shi and Levi meet for the first time, during abduction by Human Traffickers. (Levi: 11yrs, Shi: 9yrs)

837: Shi and Levi join the corps as part of the 93rd Trainee Squad. (Levi: 13yrs, Shi: 11yrs - 1986-7)

840: 93rd Trainee Squad graduates into varying divisions after three years training. (Levi: 16yrs, Shi: 14yrs)

845: The fall of Maria. (Levi: 21yrs, Shi: 19yrs)  
846: Reconquering of Maria with refugees. Aka: Citizen cull. (Levi: 22yrs, Shi: 20yrs)  
847: Eren, Mikasa, and Armin join the Corps. 104th Trainee Squad. (Levi: 23yrs, Shi: 21yrs)

850: Canon storyline. 104th Trainee Squad graduates. Rose Wall is attacked. (Levi: 26yrs, Shi: 24yrs – 1995)

**When are you going to update your other stories?**  
When I get around to it. Please do not hang onto the review system in another story to demand updates in a complete different one. It is very upsetting and annoying that you would ignore something that I've worked hard on just to whine for another thing. The more you bitch, the less impressed I am and the more likely I refuse to update on PRINCIPLE.

I'm getting crabby and contrary in my old age, mainly because it seems like a little thing I cherish called 'manners' seems to be dying out! /angry face.


	3. Chapter 3

**KRONOS RISING**

_**000**_

_Found in the Titan's Forest, a newborn child is given to the Church. Heralded a demon for his strange powers he became a Saint upon burning the hand of a Monster. He fights. And finally, those who abandoned him come at last. "You ask me to abandon these people to save you?" - "You are the Chosen One! You must!"_

_**000**_

I do not own Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan), nor do I own Harry Potter. I do own this story and all non-canon conceptry within. Please **Ask** if you wish to make use of it in your own work.

_**000**_

**Chapter Three**

"It's fascinating when you think about it," Ilse gushed as they made their way to the training camp, "Current History and the oldest records we can find declares the walls are over a hundred years old but all common sense claims that it is much, much older!" she said, brandishing her notebook enthusiastically at Levi while Shi grinned on his other side, listening with rapt attention. Ilse was a bit intense, but she was intelligent, and her knowledge always had a point.

"If the walls had only been built a hundred years ago, or at least been _finished_ a hundred years ago, there would still be children of those builders walking around, even elderly builders still walking through the Rose Districts! It is possible for humans to live over a century! I've seen it! My great, great grandfather did it and he only passed away two years ago. He doesn't remember the wall being anything but complete! Also, take into account the calendar! Currently we're in the year 838! Surely they would have reset the calendar year upon the completion of the Wall. They were effectively creating a new world, safe from Titan interference, a new earth just for humans!" she continued as they entered the training grounds, signing themselves in at the registration desk.

"A lot of people must have died during the construction. It takes almost a full two months for a brick and mortar house to be built. The Maria Wall alone must have taken over fifty years of constant work," Shi said, a little horrified and more than a bit amazed at their forefathers. Or rather, Ilse and Levi's forefathers. His own were still a complete mystery. Were they people who survived the Titan forests beyond the walls, or was he some bastard child of a Scout Legionnaire who gave birth in the field before getting eaten by a Titan? No one knew. And he certainly didn't. Though being three months old upon his discovery meant that his mother definitely hadn't been eaten immediately upon his birth, which pretty much guaranteed she wasn't a Scout Legionnaire because she would have brought him back. Every body counted and the Scouts were a close knit bunch. A child being born to one of them would become one of them sure enough, they would be doted on by the entire lot because children just weren't born during active service – and certainly not in the field.

"That's the thing!" Ilse exclaimed, "The wall isn't made of bricks or mortar! It's a completely unknown substance, more mineral than stone! Unfortunately, the exact substance is considered a national secret and no one can even attempt to chip a piece off for analysis without facing severe punishment from not only Church and State. If the walls were to ever fall, each of them is an enclosed environment capable of self-sustaining agriculture for a certain number of people!

"Should humanity ever fall that far, the total population able to survive and repopulate without causing genetic degradation, birth defects, disabilities, and the like is only six hundred thousand. And that with very careful selective breeding! Behind Sina, a total population of eight hundred thousand can be supported, but absolutely no more! Meaning that if humanity is to ever recover from that point, they must do so by sacrificing _only_ that two hundred thousand run off that doesn't effect the human breeding stock!" she continued enthusiastically. "Even if Rose and Maria fall, humanity always has a chance to come back, as thin and delicate as a spider's thread, but it _is_ there!"

She scrubbed both hands through her hair, usually neatly pulled back into a ponytail, currently it was in braided twin-tails that were half mutilated by her hand gestures and constant fiddling. Right now, half of it stuck up like a mutant mohawk. "If only we knew more about the Titans, we wouldn't have as much to fear from them."

"Knowledge is power," Levi said solemnly. It sounded like a quote but none of them were familiar with it.

"Exactly. The more we know about them, the more power we have over them!" Ilse declared as they passed by the new recruits for this year. They were all lined up in the courtyard, sweating and nervous as their instructor bellowed in their faces and generally abused them. A few of their classmates and the third years were lurking on the roofs watching in amusement and waving down to them as they passed by.

"Well, aren't you looking cute today, Langner," Ness greeted, dropping down beside the trio as they by-passed the mess hall. Already a few of the third years were on kitchen duty, peeling and cutting the food rations for the Corps and washing the dishes. They could see a few of the assistant instructors walking in with boxes of unassigned 3dMG equipment.

"If we knew as much about them as possible – hi Ness, how was your break – then people wouldn't have to fear them so severely!" Ilse continued brandishing her notebook once again.

"Are you blithering on about Titans again, Langner?" one of the few remaining girls demanded sharply, Rico was hard to get along with at the best of times, but when it came to Titans she was near enough impossible. There was a term for people like her years ago, racist. But given the genocide of humanity, so few races remained that it was never an issue. Instead, all that hatred was turned toward Titans. Hanji wasn't much better, but at least knew understood the need to know more about them beyond cleaving into the back of their necks. After all, that was the only _known_ weak point to the Titans, what was to say that there weren't more? Rico didn't much care, as long as they stayed far away and they didn't lose anymore lives trying to kill them.

Aside from her vehement hatred of anything related to Titans, including the study of said Titans, talk of said Titans, or pointless rumination about Titans, she seemed to share a similar opinion regarding Titans on Shi himself. Deciding that as he wasn't like a normal human, he was a threat, and didn't deserve to live.

It got exceptionally annoying to deal with her pointless hatred.

"Now, now, Rico-hun, chill out. Ilse has a point. The more we know, the better we'll be able to kill them," Moses Brown interjected, sliding down the roof to join the growing troupe of Second Years.

The silver haired girl 'tch'ed rudely at him, "And in attempting to study them, how many lives are going to be lost, huh?" she sneered.

Levi sneered at her in response, "When you joined the Corps you effectively threw your life away, retard. You're living on borrowed time. All of us. The least you and the rest of us can do is die for a damn good reason and do some good with your passing," he said, stepping up close to her and leaning into her face. "Or would you rather I snap your neck here and save you the trouble of wasting our time and precious food resources?"

Rico blanched, swallowing hard as she tried not to back down, glaring for all she was worth into his dark eyes.

Shi rolled his eyes and idly kicked Levi's feet out from under him, "Stop glaring at her before she pisses on herself," he reprimanded as the dark haired boy had to tumble in mid-air to regain his footing without faceplanting in the dirt. He then looked at Rico as if he had something to say to her before sighing and brushing past her without comment – he knew full well she would discard what he had to say on principle, perhaps even work actively against it.

Ilse sighed wearily as Levi launched himself to his feet and immediately tried to knee Shi in the back of the head, the two of them taking off on a merry chase through the camp with the elder of the pair trying to maim the younger. She couldn't help but not only be envious of their friendship, but also their physical ability. Even without 3dMG, they moved as if they were flying.

"What the hell was that?" Rico hissed furiously, "Don't mess with me you little shit-stain. You just gunna brush me off like dirt on the bottom of your shoe?" she spat under her breath.

Ilse eyed her dorm-mate pityingly. It must have been hard to be that socially stupid, or just stupid in general. "Of course he brushed you off," she explained, a firm believer in helping to educate others, even if they didn't want or deserve it. "You weren't going to listen to what he said anyway and he figured why should he waste his breath. In fact, I can already tell you're not going to listen to me, so I'm not going to waste my breath either!" she declared with a huff as she stomped off to the girls dormitory with every intention of unpacking the new blanket her mother had knitted for her, and the notebooks her father saved up and bought especially for her. He was so proud when she showed him all her information and extrapolated theories from them. Being a Doctor, he was also intensely curious about the Titans and was more than eager to help her go through her theories and dictate new ones for her to take to the Scout Legionnaires.

Moses and Ness exchanged bemused glances as Rico swore violently and took off running towards the Assault Course.

"Well. This year is off to a great start," Moses said sarcastically.

_**000**_

Shi cursed as Instructor Shadis swept past him and sliced through his rappelling line, sending him plummeting to the ground. These 'sneak attacks' had been happening more and more often lately and it was annoying to have to repair their equipment after each and every time it happened. However, it was to test their reactions to the unexpected and other threats, it sharpened their reflexes, which could save their lives. So he didn't complain.

Much.

Still, he had to wince as Kubo hit the ground in front of him, hard, even as Shi's second rappelling line bit into a tree-branch overhead, allowing him to skim and swing over him. Any thought of turning to go and provide aid was pointless because at that moment, Laurence had already swept his partner up and into the trees above. They would be fine. Laurence had basic first aid training, they all did. This was just a training exercise so dropping out over minor injuries would be expected, and Inspector Shadis wouldn't ream Laurence out for dropping with Kubo unconscious.

Shi drew his blades and shot forward. He only had one working rappelling line now, which made his momentum and movements all the more essential if he wanted to take home a kill. He was vaguely aware of Ness and Moses following on his heels, but they were pretty slow on their 3dMG and he could already see the descending form of Instructor Shadis above them. He turned his attention to the wooden cut out Titan that just sprung up from behind some bushes and used its throat as a pivot – lashing out with both blades to cleave the padding at the back of its neck open.

Up ahead, Levi was a whirlwind of blades with both Petra and Hanji hot on his heels, he had to laugh at his friend – so popular with the ladies despite not having a single gentlemanly bone in his body.

"Mike!" he shouted, spotting the larger blond and grabbing his attention, Shi made several hand signals and the older boy nodded, lines snapping out into an about face. This training simulation was basically Titan Killing 101, with the Instructors trying to kill them by taking out their lines. Anyone who hit the ground was 'Dead' for this session and lost dessert privileges. Right now, Mike was circling back to handle any stray cut outs they'd missed, Shi would be sending Petra as back up while he, Levi, and Hanji took the lead. Ur and Perle were already at the rear clearing up and Nile Dawk had to be rushed back to the medical bay after Rico landed on him after her line got cut and nearly broke his neck.

Shi cursed when he heard the tell-tale sound of Instructor Shadis's 3dMG overheard and promptly disengaged his remaining line in favour of hitting a tree branch, hands and feet and then using it to launch himself backwards – the Instructor dropping like a stone in front of him, blades flashing.

He twisted and shot his line out, arcing around a near-by tree and disengaging as he was rocketed through the air, far away from the older man with a burst of gas. He almost didn't see the Titan cut out as it flipped up in front of him, but he wasn't considered the fastest in the class with the 3dMG for nothing as his line snapped out overhead, sending him under the 'Titan's jaw and backwards to where he had open ground on the cut out's padded neck.

Leaving little more than shredded padding behind him, he was already gone and catching up with the trio up ahead, signing Back Line clean up to Petra as he passed her. She nodded and backflipped off a near-by tree to go and follow after Mike as Shi took her flanking position beside Levi.

_**000**_

"I never want to leave this place agaaaaain," Ness moaned half sprawled out across the stall of his shower, hot water pounding down across his back.

There were mumbled agreements and a comment about Instructor Shadis dragging him out by his ears for making the place look untidy before a bar of soap was thrown across the room in retaliation. But other than that, everyone was too tired, and sore, to start a soap fight tonight. Kubo and Nile were still in the medical room, Laurence was looking miserable as he soaped up, Moses doing his best to cheer him up, or take his mind off his battle partner's injury – apparently he had dislocated his shoulder and fractured a scapula. He would be out of training for the rest of the month until they both healed to the surgeon's satisfaction.

Kale was hissing under his breath every time he accidentally bumped a bruise from where he had gone crashing through several trees after Instructor Shadis cut his line. No sprains, fractures, or broken bones, but plenty of nasty looking bruises that were going to make sleeping an utter pain.

The only people who had avoided injury were Levi, Shi, Mike, Laurence, and Ian Dietrich, out of the boys. With the girls, Ur, Hanji, and Petra were head and shoulders above the others as not only uninjured, but also the only ones who didn't get their lines cut. Of the boys, Shi was the only one to have a line cut, but he was also the only one to keep going out of all the recruits and function with just the one line. That alone gave him extra credit in that exercise.

"Cheer up, tomorrow is an endurance hike," Shi told the boneless youth as he passed, grinning at the look of dismay on Ness's face. "At least you won't get anymore bruises from that, huh?"

Ness slipped off the stall and dramatically pretended to wither under the shower spray, "We're all gunna die! They're trying to kill us!"

_**000**_

The run went about as expected. Shi's endurance wasn't the greatest but he managed to stay at the middle of the pack. Rico, Petra, Moses, Ilse, Kubo, Perle, and Adrian along with him, while Levi took just ahead of the middle ground. Mike, Ian, Laurence, and Ur ahead of them, all while Ness, Kale, Nagi, Nile, and Hanji brought up the rear, with poor Ilse staggering along at the very last of the line, lagging quite a bit as she forced herself to run beyond her physical limits on sheer willpower alone.

All the while, Instructor Shadis kept an eye on their progress from horse back, occasionally barking something derogatory over their heads.

What they didn't know was that they were merely moving to a different training ground, their dorms would remain untouched but for the next week they would remain at the training dormitories in the forest for specialist exercises. Horsemanship manoeuvres within forest, Titan hunting on horseback, evasion and signalling with obstructions, tracking and stealth manoeuvres. They would spend a week drilling these exercises with the Instructors trying to kill them at every opportunity while they were trying to carry them out.

Shi was getting the impression that the only reason this forest didn't _actually_ have Titans for them to kill was simply because the upper Brass would _never_ allow even one of them to be lured behind the walls, no matter how hard Shadis tried. And there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell that they would approve sending Trainees out with the Scout Legionnaires to get Titan experience either. But then again, what could one expect from people who had never encountered Titans and had absolutely no intention of doing so either?

They encountered a group of first years on their first 3dMG manoeuvre exercises on their way back after a week of pure hell (Ness would not stop complaining about saddle sores), and Shadis allowed them to sit back and watch, giggling over some of the more obvious faults even as he explained why and how each and everyone was so shit and why one or two were worth half a shit. It was surprisingly educational as they watched everything and anything that could possibly go wrong with their gear happen, and then have Instructor Shadis explain how to avoid it, and how to resolve it should it actually happen.

It was a pleasant way to pass the afternoon before they were put onto kitchen duty, everyone unanimously ordering Shi and Petra to make the dessert – apparently they were the only ones able to make the unidentifiable rice pudding taste good. Which had both of them snickering as they go to work – because all they did was add a little honey and cinnamon before grating nutmeg on top and putting it into the oven. Still, it got them out of dish washing duty so they didn't enlighten the rest of the troupe on how to make it.

Wait until graduation, that way even though they would all be going to different divisions, they'd still be able to remember those care-free days in the mess hall, Moses and Ness making fart noises with their armpits, Hanji and Ilse arguing over some historical fact or another using tableware to prove their points, Levi obsessively cleaning both seat and table top before sitting down and trying to ignore Petra and Rico as the two girls clustered around him, Laurence and Kubo flicking food at one another before Perle told them off and had to shield herself from food projectiles.

They would be able to cling to those warm memories... even as everything around them turned to ash.

"Shi, is everything okay?" Petra asked, catching sight of his face as he paused in his grating of the nutmeg.

"Eh?" he grunted, looking up in surprise.

Petra eyed him in concern, doe-brown eyes assessing, "Are you alright? You're crying," she pointed out in an undertone, reaching up and brushing away the tears he hadn't realised were running down his face. Jolting in surprise to feel the wet on his cheeks, he hastily reached up and rubbed it away, Petra drawing her hand back but no less concerned than before.

"Ah, yeah, I'm fine. I guess I got myself worked up thinking too hard," he said, offering her a wry smile, hopefully to reassure before turning his attention back to the nutmeg.

"Do you... want to talk about it?" she asked hesitantly. The two hadn't really spent a lot of time talking, Petra would unquestioningly follow his lead during drills as he was simply the better student, but outside of that it was pretty much established that he was Levi's bestfriend. And Petra, still being at that awkward age where girls were unsure of how to act around boys they liked, and her crush was fairly obvious even if Levi himself staunchly ignored it, tended to focus her time and efforts onto her crush, instead of said crush's friend. It was understandable, and Shi didn't begrudge her this in the slightest, he thought it was actually quite adorable, not to mention utterly hilarious as Levi hadn't the faintest idea of how to speak to girls without A) Threatening them, B) Telling them off, or C) Making them cry. So in honesty, his ignoring Petra was actually his way of declaring that he didn't want to upset her. And that was what made Shi curl up on the floor and cry with laughter while Levi roughly kicked him in the side, face beet red, and scowl plastered firmly in place. No one even questioned these random bouts of violence on Levi's part towards Shi when he started laughing, they just started taking bets on how long it took to stop or over what Levi was abusing him for this time. No one had ever even come close to the real reason, and Shi wasn't about to tell them – he was having far too much fun watching them try to figure it out while Levi loomed over his shoulder with the promise of violence in his eyes.

Shi hummed, "Just that... after we graduate... Ah, y'know what, never mind. I'm just being a big girl's blouse. Don't mind me," he assured her with a laugh.

Petra didn't look convinced but at least she dropped the subject.

_**000**_

It was strange how quickly their second year had gone past.

The length of time was exactly the same, the training three times harder than the year before, but as Shi and Levi rode their horses back to Shiganshina, it felt like it hadn't even been a week since they were riding out to _begin_ their second year.

"Are you sure this is okay, Shi?" Hanji asked from their otherside, Petra chewing her bottom lip next to the bespectacled girl.

He nodded, "Emily said it was alright if I brought friends. Just... don't bring up the Wall, okay? Her husband is a huge wall Cultist, and he used to be violent with her. So she's a little skittish," he explained as they rode through the gates, nodding to the Stationary Guard Members currently getting drunk in the shade. Well, with nothing to do, he didn't blame them. With nothing to do, Gate duty must have been the most boring of all. They weren't even allowed to police the people – that was the MPO's jurisdiction and they were harsh with anyone outside their ranks who tried to intervene with that.

"How can anyone get violent towards their wife?" Petra asked, sounding utterly disgusted.

Shi shrugged as he lead them through the streets, "Apparently he used to be quite the drunkard. That's pretty much the only excuse she would give him. He's clean now though, he just keeps his distance for her peace of mind," he explained waving to Mrs Jaeger as they passed her.

They continued on in silence, Hanji looking thoughtful, Petra sad, and Levi with his typical scowl – though his knuckles were white on the reigns of his horse. That was enough of a give away that Shi began to make mental plans to keep the Pastor far away from his surly friend, least he end up with a murder charge. Levi was fine with beating on people, but only if they could defend themselves, and even then, never on someone who looked to him as a protector.

"Here we are," he called as they pulled to a stop at a small three story house not far from the outer gate. It was a pleasant place with a railing just outside for the horses, all the windows had boxes of flowers and herbs hanging outside and the roof had a small balcony that likewise was full of flowers and herb pots. "I'll sort the horses out in a little bit, c'mon in, I'm sure Emily will be happy to feed you up with tea and biscuits," he told them with a grin.

"But, aren't biscuits a luxury item!?" Petra squeaked.

"Not if you make them yourself," said a woman's voice from behind them. Everyone save for Shi tensed and turned around. The woman was fairly mature, her blonde hair lined with silver and her lightly tanned face lined and wrinkled with age. Her grey eyes were kind, but also wary as she glanced between them all. Her clothing was clean, save for a few stubborn grass stains on her knees, and she was carrying a basket of bread and potatoes and other vegetables from the market. "Welcome home, Shi."

"Good to be back, Emily. Please, these are my fellow recruits, Levi Rivaille, Petra Ral, and Hanji Zoe. I would have brought more but I didn't want to overwhelm you, and these guys are pretty well behaved by comparison," he added with a grin, ignoring the dirty look Levi shot him and the grin he received from Hanji.

Emily laughed lightly, "Well, I'm glad you meet you all. Come on in. I'll get some tea on the go. You must be tired from such a long journey," she said brushing past them and unlocking the front door. "Shi, could you please see to the horses and get the spare beds out for our guests?" she called as the group moved into the house, taking their shoes off as directed by the green eyed youth.

"Sure thing," he responded.

"Spare mattresses?" Levi asked in an undertone, his voice two hairs short of revolted.

Shi snickered, "They're straw, Lev. And we stuff when with lavender sprigs too. No bugs at all. Though if you're really that squeamish about it, you can share my bed," he teased, grinning – and then ducking as Levi swiped at his head.

Petra giggled, "No fighting you two!" she scolded before grabbing Levi's arm and tugging him into the kitchen where they could hear Emily puttering around.

Hanji and Shi exchanged glances and laughed at the uncomfortable look on Levi's face.

_**000**_

**And Chapter Three finished. I wanted to get a lot more character interaction in this chapter. Mainly because it's going to be that much more tragic when I start killing characters off (evil grin). Onto Questions and answers.**

**Timeline:** YES! Time flows differently between the worlds. 8/ I figured that was obvious but apparently I need to spell it out. I had plans for having it exactly the same timeflow, but I would have had to track cause and effect to insane degrees when it came to the HP world. It's just easier from a writing stand point to have time flow more slowly in the HP world than the SnK world. Plus, I get to play with Dumbledore, Moody, Remus, Snape, and all the older characters and have them going wtf over Harry being their age and not at all easily manipulated as they had been hoping. He's going to be singularly unimpressed with their Dark Lord problem. Way to make 'em feel emasculated there, Shi.

**Petra and Levi:** It is canonly hinted by Petra's father that they were engaged, or that Petra and he were sincerely hoping that they would get engaged. I kind of like that they're close, possibly with undertones of romance, but they never take that step because they both know that their work is deadly, and it would kill them to do so only for one of them to die later.

**Like I said, I'm going to leave juicy hints for any which pairing that I like. And remember, just because you liked someone as a teenager doesn't mean you stay with that person for the rest of your life – anime lies about that. It lies hard.**

**All the hinting and fangirl trolling here. **

TROLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

((_PS: Do you like the new Book cover? 8DDD I made it_))


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